


I Know That There'll Be Better Days

by destielwithashotgun



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: AU, Angst, Child Abuse, Epileptic JJ, Hospitals, How Do I Tag, Hurt, JJ never became friends with the pogues, Meds, Other, Seizures, Starving, Stealing, Vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:20:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25174513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destielwithashotgun/pseuds/destielwithashotgun
Summary: What if JJ had never become friends with the pogues?Or: JJ's met the Heywards before (not in a good way) but he's not so sure becoming their foster son right out of the hospital is going to go very well.(This story kind of sucks because I'm tired, but you can read it anyway)
Relationships: Heyward & JJ (Outer Banks), Mrs. Heyward & JJ, Pope & JJ
Comments: 10
Kudos: 109





	I Know That There'll Be Better Days

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, it's been a minute. I've been working two jobs, so I've been very busy. 
> 
> Anyway I'm not even going to lie, this is very bad work. But I'm half asleep so...take it or leave it I guess. I mean, the angst is there.

JJ hasn't eaten in three days. 

The whole thing is, when Luke Maybank fucks off to go wherever he goes when he's blowing all their money, JJ usually has a few days worth of food to find in the house. (It isn't always good food, and he's had expired bread more than he wants to admit, but it's enough). This time, he's left nothing, and JJ doesn't have enough money to actually buy something

He has a backup plan for this too though, since it's not the first time it's happened. JJ practically lives off of beer and weed, but even he needs to eat sometimes. The convenience store on the end of the cut doesn't have the best security system (like anything on the cut does) and so JJ can usually make off with a few candy bars, or a bag of chips, or something 

The problem is, Mrs. B died, one of the owners of the store, which means that they're shut down for however long it takes for the family to grieve. 

(JJ's been grieving his mother for 9 years. Grief never really goes away). 

Relying on beer and weed isn't going to work for however much longer Luke Maybank is away. Last time JJ smoked on such an empty stomach, it went straight to his head and he couldn't get off the floor for two hours because he was so dizzy. 

JJ doesn't have many options. 

There's a boy at school who's parents own a store on the other end of the cut. Pope Heyward. JJ never had him in any of his classes, because JJ was special ed and Pope actually had some brains. But he'd seen him at lunch, hanging out with that John B kid and that kook Kiara. 

JJ knew Pope worked at his parents store. He had walked by a few times and seen the kid at the counter. It was one of the reasons that JJ didn't go there. Most of his class knew he was stupid, had a shit father, ect, but he didn't need the added humiliation of getting caught stealing from the Heywards, especially not by Pope. 

This time though, he's getting dizzy, and there's no sign of his dad coming back any time soon. 

(Usually that would be a relief, because JJ still hadn't recovered from the beating he had taken right before Luke had left). 

He walks into the store, hunched over, hands in his pockets and head down. He's not trying to show off the faded black eye, which of course always makes people jump to the same conclusion. JJ is obviously trouble.

He immediately feels eyes on him. 

He doesn't look up, but he does glance into the mirror in the corner of the store and see's how unlucky he is. Mr. Heyward is at the counter, and Pope is there talking to him. JJ slinks behind the isles. 

He can't just be stealing candy bars now. He needs something else. 

A packet of Poptarts fit easily into the pockets of his cargo shorts, and a few protein bars join them. He tries to think of what else he could take that wouldn't be suspicious. 

Instead, he hears the sounds of Pope and his dad talking quietly at the front, and he realizes that he won't get out of there without getting caught unless he buys something. And he only has a few quarters. 

He takes them out of his pocket and counts them in his palm. 

He has a dollar and 25 cents. 

It's enough for one mini can of Pringles. 

JJ walks to the front, head down, and puts the can of Pringles on the counter. Pope seems to have disappeared. Heyward rings him up without a word, and for a minute JJ thinks he might actually get away with it. He shoves his coins across the counter and reaches out for the can. Heyward slides it away from him. 

"Now wait a minute," he says, and JJ immediately knows he's been caught. 

On instinct, he turns and runs, leaving the pringles can behind. The rest of his money, gone. Heyward yells for his son, who comes out of the back room and immediately gives chase. 

JJ is fast. He's used to running, from fights, from cops, sometimes from his dad. But he's weak from not eating for nearly four days, and he's a little lightheaded when he takes off. JJ has never seen Pope play any sports, but the kid is fast. Fast enough to reach out and snag JJ's wrist, yanking him back. Two protein bars fall out of his pocket. 

JJ turns, swings a wild punch, but it's weak and Pope doesn't let go. JJ stumbles and falls, already giving up. He's never lost this easily before. 

And then something weird happens. 

Pope knees next to him, and JJ looks up at him, chin down. Pope's expression hardly changes, but he grabs only one of the bars that were on the ground. "I'll tell my dad this is all you took," he says. 

(JJ wants to tell him he doesn't need his charity, but the truth is, he does. And the effects of not eating hurts.)

JJ watches Pope walk away, feels the weight of what he's stolen burning through his pocket. In an instant, Pope is gone. JJ doesn't even wait to see if he'll come back or something. He rips into the package of poptarts and stuff them into his mouth. He doesn't even taste them. 

(They make him feel a little sick later on, but he refuses to throw them up). 

That's only the first encounter with the Heywards. 

The second one comes a year later, because apparently Pope's mom volunteers at the hospital they take JJ to when his dad beats him so bad he collapses in front of the Wreck. 

(It's a little embarassing, how many people had seen him have a seizure for like 3 minutes outside of a place he had no business being.)

When he came back into what was a kind of blurry consciousness, there was a pretty girl he sort of remembered from middle school kneeling next to him. She told them they called 911. Her name was Kiara. JJ tried avoid vomiting on her before he passed out again. 

The hospital refused to let his dad into the room before they were certain he wasn't hurting his son. 

(Spoiler alert: they never actually became certain). 

There were so many bruises, and cuts, and the severe concussion was also a factor, but also JJ was just tired of lying and hurting all the time. 

(Also he was pretty much high on painkillers when he admitted he didn't want his dad to hurt him again). 

After that it seemed kind of pointless to deny. 

There was a lot of fuss about it, and JJ ended up snapping at the nurses who dragged him out of the bed and forced him to let them take pictures of every little injury and scar he had. Some of them weren't even from his dad. JJ let them take pictures of those anyway, because he was nauseous, and his head hurt, and he'd pretty much taken a vow of silence because what the fuck was there to even say. 

Mrs. Heyward visited on his 2nd day in the hospital, after they had given him stitches and pain meds and made sure his brain wasn't exploding in his skull or something. She didn't even know who he was at first, just walked in cheerily with a tray of the same stuff he'd been eating since he got there. 

(He didn't really have an appetite for anything other than red jello.)

(The nurses said he was underweight). 

Mrs. Heyward called him dear, put a plate on the tray, and then squinted at him. 

"You're that Maybank boy, aren't you honey?" she had her hands on her hips, and she didn't sound angry or sad or pitying or anything. Maybe that's why JJ mumbled yes. She pushed the plate closer to him. "Well why aren't you eating? They aren't going to let you out of here any time soon unless you gain some weight." 

She wasn't old, but she reminded JJ of a grandmother. And she was definitely more reassuring than her husband, who JJ still didn't make eye contact with on the rare occassion that he saw him out. 

Mrs. Heyward sat down in the chair next to his bed, and grabbed the remote like it was her own house. JJ didn't move to stop her. For almost an hour she sat with him and they watched old reruns of jeopardy on the crappy hospital tv. JJ didn't tell her he didn't like Jeopardy. 

She didn't come on Wednesday, but on Thursday there she was again, tray of crappy hospital food in her hands. The Jeopardy reruns were back, and JJ still wasn't talking but she didn't seem to mind. 

Friday he had another siezure. 

He doesn't remember anything really, not even before the siezure, but he comes to feeling like shit. Immediately after, he vomits into a pan or something and the doctors are poking and prodding him in the same way they did when he first arrived. 

(Not that he really remembers much of that). 

Two hours later they diagnose him with epilepsy. JJ has another siezure that night. 

Mrs. Heyward comes on Saturday, but this time she doesn't turn on the jeopardy reruns. They've got JJ on anti siezure meds, which make him tired and sort of nauseous, while they apprently figure out what's going to work for him. He hasn't said anything since he got there. 

(The nurses say it's the trauma or some shit like that. JJ just doesn't understand the point of saying anything to these fucking doctors, who don't care much about him, only his diagnosis.) 

"You know where you're going when you get out of here JJ?" Mrs. Heyward asks him. 

He looks up at her, but doesn't reply. He would talk to her, maybe. But he doesn't have an answer. Social services have been ducking in and out of his room during his entire stay, bringing news about his father he didn't want to hear, and telling him all the bad news he also didn't want to hear. 

Most of his extended family didn't qualify as "good homes," and the one that did was poor as shit and didn't want him. Not that that was news or anything. JJ knew he would just be another problem, especially with his newly diagnosed epilepsy. 

Mrs. Heyward sat down heavily in her chair, pullling JJ's jello forward and sticking the spoon in his hand. JJ glared at her, but forced himself to take a bit. It tasted like metal. He ate another bite anyway. 

"You know," she started. "My husband and I have a foster license". 

JJ put the spoon down, shoving his jello away. "I'm not your fucking charity case," he told her. 

"Language," she replied. Somehow that calmed him down a little. "I'm not making you my charity case. I'm just telling you that you have no where to go, and I happen to be an option. There would be rules of course, rules we would expect you to follow, but I want you to think about it." 

JJ's been scared of the system since he was a little kid, when his dad told him what they would do to him in foster homes. Mrs. Heyward is nice, sure, but he doesn't know her husband or her son, and maybe she's secretly a villain outside of the hospital. He shrugs his shoulders. 

The siezure meds they're trying out on him don't work all that well. 

Mrs. Heyward is still there half an hour later when the world goes fuzzy. 

(At least he doesn't puke this time). 

The only reason he says he'll consider staying with her is because when he wakes up, Mrs. Heyward is still there, watching jeopardy and eating HIS jello. 

They release him into the Heywards care three days later. 

Heyward is silent, which is ok because JJ doesn't want to talk either. Mrs. Heyward though, keeps up chatter the entire time they're in the car, when JJ's in the back seat and Heyward is driving. She tells him about their son. 

(JJ doesn't want to talk about that).

Their house is small, like most of the ones on the cut, but it has two floors. JJ's never been in a house with two floors. 

They show him 'his' room, and explain to him it's right across the hall from their son's room. JJ's never been in a house with a guest room either. He doesn't feel like leaving it. 

He doesn't show for dinner, and nobody tries to force him. He doesn't want to be there, sitting with Pope and Heyward, thinking about the time he stole from Heywards store. Now he's in his House. 

Mrs. Heyward brings him a small bowl of spaghetti later that night. JJ's not hungry, but he forces it down because it makes her happy. He feel's bad when he refuses another serving, and she looks at him sadly. He doesn't meet her eyes when she walks away. 

He sits in the bed for hours, feeling anxiety (or maybe spaghetti) swirling in his gut. It rises to his throat when the door opens again. Heyward didn't knock. 

JJ's teeth clenched, immediately on edge. Heyward doesn't come all the way in, just stands in the doorway with his arms crossed. He tosses a bottle across the room and JJ catches it on instinct. 

"We're going to trust you with your own seizure medication," Heyward says. "But if we find out you're abusing them in any way, they immediately come to us." 

JJ doesn't acknowledge that he heard him, but put the meds on the nightstand. He doesn't want to meet Heywards eyes. 

"We have rules here. Your curfew is 11, 10:30 on school nights. No drinking or drugs. School work must be done before you go out." JJ thinks he's done, and thank God for that, and then Heyward says one last thing. 

"And no stealing." 

JJ mouth tastes like metal. 

He wakes up in the middle of the night with a fever. Not that he knows it, because he's so disoriented he barely remembers where he is. The room tilts weirdly, and suddenly he's on the floor. It's freezing. He thinks he's bit his tongue. Everything slides out of focus. 

The next thing he's aware of is the Heywards son, Pope, kneeling next to him. He looks panicked. JJ tries not to throw up spaghetti on his pajama pants. Things sort of go away again. 

He's back on the bed, and Mrs. Heyward is brushing sweaty hair off his face. She looks worried. Heyward is talking to someone in the background, his phone clutched tightly in his hand. JJ can't understand what he's saying. 

"What's wrong?" He asks Mrs. Heyward. Her eyebrows crease. 

"You're sick, honey," she replies, and things start to make a little more sense. 

"Oh yeah," he says, and this time he does throw up spaghetti over the side of the bed, falling asleep immediately after. Maybe he passes out. Probably that one. 

He dreams about stealing from the store again, except this time he's trying to steal a bright orange bottle of pills. The label says Carbamazepine. Somebody tackles him as he runs away, and the bottle opens, spilling pills all over the concrete. They disintegrate, blowing away in the wind. JJ wakes with a start. 

His clothes are damp and sweaty, and there's an ice pack next to him on the bed. 

Upon further inspection, both the Heywards are in the room. They're also both asleep. He wonders if they stayed up all night with him. 

He falls asleep again. 

(This time he feels safe doing it).


End file.
